Closing Time
by Rubi Dharuddha
Summary: Grace Wechsler's flower shop is continuing to flourish as is her relationship with Spencer Reid.When her life is turned upside down by a criminal and her son is the only witness,Reid must be on his game.Hard to do when an unexpected guest arrives.


**Closing Time**

**A/N: Just a warning to anyone who hasn't read my previous work. Grace and Ayden Wechsler are characters from two stories I wrote about a year ago. Grace is my OC/Reid pairing and thus there may be some references to those stories that won't make sense to a new reader. If you're interested, I would suggest reading those before reading this one, just so you don't feel like "Bwa? That makes no sense!" Thankies!**

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It was nearly closing time. Six o'clock in the evening, plenty of time for dinner, a bath a story and bedtime for little boys. Something that Grace Wechsler was happy to provide for her six-year-old son. She was just finishing up on an arrangement for a regular client when her coworker, Analise headed for the door. The woman stopped for a moment to say goodnight, inspecting Grace's work.

"Your arrangements are getting really good, Grace!" She said, fluffing a peony at the bottom of the vase. Grace smiled, taking one last look at her work before gathering it up and heading to the cooler just behind the counter.

"It helps when you've got a trained florist teaching you." She replied from inside, setting the floral work on the shelf inside. She came back, walking up behind her son, Ayden who was diligently coloring at another counter. She put her hand on his back, leaning down and giving him a kiss on the top of the head. He smiled up at her from his artwork.

"Get your worksheet done for school?" Grace asked him, getting an almost hyperactive nod in return. He was (as short-lived as it may be) always excited to get his work done when he got home. She looked at Analise who was watching Grace interact with her son.

" Did you see the order for that wedding in November?" Grace asked, Analise nodding heavily.

"I did. It's going to be huge." Analise replied, this sort of thing was pretty common anymore, now that Grace's business seemed to be doing well. Grace lifted an eyebrow questioningly.

"Think we can handle it?" She asked, Analise laughing out loud.

"I'm pretty sure we can, you and I, we've always got it figured out, don't we girl?" She said, knowing that despite her obvious improvement and success, Grace sometimes wondered about how well she was doing. Analise looked at her watch, suddenly realizing it was getting late.

"Oh shoot! I've got to get going, Marcus is expecting me!" She exclaimed, waving at Grace and Ayden as she headed for the door. Ayden yelled a goodbye from his seat while Grace waved back.

"Night, Analise. We'll see you tomorrow."

Smiling, Grace ruffled Ayden's hair and headed for the broom leaned against the wall.

"Okay buddy—we're going to finish cleaning up here and then we're going to meet Spencer for pizza, does that sound like a plan?" She asked as she started sweeping up the remains from the day off the floor. Ayden hopped down from his chair and grabbed the dustpan, leaning down to help his mother. As they did so, they both heard the bell hanging over the door ring. Grace looked up from the broom and saw that a younger man had entered the store; he seemed in a rush, not uncommon from last minute shoppers of the past. She wasn't too thrilled that he had come in now that they were closing, but she was a follower of "if the sign says open, we're open". Putting on a smile, she gestured to the trashcan for Ayden to dump the contents of the dustpan into and went to help her late customer.

From behind the counter, Ayden watched his mother. He saw the man seemed jittery and sweaty. Ayden wrinkled up his nose at the thought and banged the dustpan on the inside of the trashcan like he had seen his mother do a hundred times before. The man jumped at the sound and looked for the culprit. Seeing his reaction, Grace attempted to pull his attention back to her.

"So, does your girlfriend appreciate the usual red roses or does she have a favorite flower?" She asked him, feeling very uncomfortable standing next to him. He was giving off a vibe even the most oblivious person could feel and he wasn't helping her get him out of the store. When he didn't respond right away, Grace tried again.

"Sir?"

The man's eyes jumped to hers, his demeanor still shaky. He looked at the cooler ahead of them, full of arrangements for sale. Finally he moved forward and indiscriminately grabbed an arrangement from a shelf.

"This'll do." He said shortly, Grace taking it from him, her own attitude souring at his lack of interest, especially since she was trying to close her shop and feed her son dinner. Still, she couldn't shake the feeling she was getting from him. She walked quickly to the counter where Ayden was waiting for her. She set the floral arrangement down and leaned down to talk to Ayden. Slipping her cell phone out of her pocket, she pressed it into Ayden's little hand.

"I want you to go into the backroom. If I'm not back there in five minutes, you call Spencer. Tell him what's going on, ok?" She said softly. She waited until he was gone to turn back to the man, who had moved to the front counter much faster then Grace had expected. Taken aback, Grace tried to put on an unshaken face, hoping she could get the man out of her store, quickly.

"Uhm—Is this all you needed, sir?" She asked, hoping it was. His eyes met hers, giving her an unpleasant shiver up her spine. He shook his head, Grace's stomach tightening in knots.

"No. That's not all."

In the backroom, Ayden heard something crash to the floor, his heart beating out of his chest. He heard his mother yell and the bell ringing on the door. He waited until it was quiet and crept to the door of the backroom. He pushed it open and from his vantage point, he saw the vase of flowers shattered across the floor. He couldn't see his mother anywhere, his fear doubling.

His mother was gone.


End file.
